Woman of the Past

Woman of the Past

By: Meagan Stevens

A.K.A. AngelsRayne

Prologue

The morning had started out bright and sunny, but now the clouds had rolled in. The early afternoon sky was dark. It looked as if the clouds would soon loose control of the rain hidden within them. Peyton held her little brother a little closer, enjoying his sweet baby scent before laying him down in his crib. Looking at him, she realized just how big he’d gotten since the last time she’d been home.

“You’re growing like a weed Law.” She said aloud as she brushed his bright red hair out of his face, loving that it matched her own so perfectly. Her blue green eyes flicked over to the window again. She had to go get Buster before it rained and he freaked out.

“Pey?” Her little cousin popped his head around the door.

“Yeah Wolf, what’s up?” She said as she watched his blond head tilt to the side in annoyance. The look was far too old for a kid that was only ten. He hated when she called him Wolf.

“Your phone is ringing… again.” Wolfram explained, acting as if he was talking to a small child.

“That’s why I told you to answer it. My mom doesn’t bite through the telephone you know.” She barely managed to reign in the laughter that threatened to overwhelm her control.

“Maybe not, but she keeps asking me the same questions about how you’re doing with Law and I keep telling her that everything is fine but she keeps calling.” Peyton laughed, she sometimes worried that her cousin was too serious. He was brilliant and she made it her goal to show him how to be a kid whenever they were together. Hearing the childlike whine in his voice made her day.

She walked out of the room, wrapping the newest baby monitor around her wrist. It was light and looked like a watch. The other end centered over her baby brother, monitoring his sleep from above his crib. “Where’s my phone?” She asked right as he shoved the rolled up phone into her hand. It started ringing again. Touching the button on the side activated the phone. It unrolled and she looked at her mom on the screen.

Ten questions shot out at her immediately, her mom’s voice in a panic. Her face etched with worry. Peyton tried to reassure her as she made her way down the hall and into the living room leading to the back porch.

“Everything’s fine Mom. Aunt Mandy dropped Wolfram off this morning and I just got Law to go down for a nap.” She listened to her Mom’s worried voice coming through the speaker of her cell phone and sighed.

“Don’t sigh at me Peyton Riley Parker! You’ve been away at school all this time and this is the longest I’ve ever left Laurence alone with you, and stop calling him Law. Besides it’s a Mother’s job to worry about her children.” Ellen took a deep breath to calm her nerves.

Peyton laughed and made a face at Wolfram, her ten-year-old cousin as he tried to get her attention, “I like calling him Law. It sounds tougher than Laurence. He’ll be brilliant like you and Dad but he’ll be awesome too, like me.” Peyton teased her Mom, finally eliciting a laugh. “Okay Mom I have to go. It looks like rain and I left Buster in the back yard. Enjoy the rest of your lunch.”

“Pey put Buster in the garage if he gets rained on. I don’t want the house smelling like wet dog.” Ellen said, using her daughter’s nickname to show she hadn’t meant to get as worked up as she had.

“No problem, I love you Mom. I’ll see you when you get home.” Peyton replied as she slipped on her shoes by the French doors leading to the back yard.

She heard, “Love you too Hun.” before she hung up the phone. Looking around she realized she lost track of Wolfram.

“Wolf, where’d you go? I need you to come here for a sec.” Wolfram came out from behind the kitchen counter that separated the two areas and stared at her with accusation in his eyes.

“You said.” Wolfram crossed his little arms in a stubborn gesture that ran in the family.

Peyton took a moment to glare at the ceiling, letting her breath out with her hands and arms spread out to her sides, “I know, I know, I promised to show you my college books on the CP and I will. Right after I get the dog. I need you to watch Law for a few minutes. You know how crazy Buster gets when it rains.” She gave him a pointed look and Wolfram finally cracked a smile.

“You gonna chase him?” He asked with a smirk.

Peyton frowned at the little genius before her, not angry, but not looking forward to chasing Buster, “Only if I have to, you stay here Wolf.” She turned and opened the door to the back.

“But...”

“Stay here or there’ll be no calculus till after dinner!” She said firmly as she closed the door and went out onto their back porch.

“You’re mean!” was all she heard through the door. She laughed and waved at him, knowing he didn’t really mean it and they’d be glued to the computer together soon enough.

“Hey Buster, come on boy! It’s time to go inside.” She hollered over the railing for the old chocolate lab. He was ten, a little chubby, and lately his hearing wasn’t as good. She saw him laying under the apple tree out back and grew worried. “You better just be sleeping mister.” She said under her breath as she walked down the stairs and into the lawn.

It wouldn’t have been so bad if the tree he was under were the apple tree next to the house, but no. Buster had always loved the tree at the far corner of their yard. Unfortunately for Peyton, that meant he was about a football field and a half away from them, right next to her Dad’s art studio.

Between her Mom’s job as a forensic pathologist and her Dad’s mesmerizing paintings her family was pretty well off, but not obscenely rich. Her Mom was one of the top three forensic pathologists in the country and got job offers every day, but they refused to move. They had found this home eighteen years ago and it fit them perfectly. Peyton had absolutely hated leaving for school but her love of tech had taken her to the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls.

The five-hour drive made it difficult to drive home but she managed to come back on holidays at least. She felt like she hadn’t gotten to bond with her little brother at all yet. Therefore, she’d taken the summer semester off to spend time with her family.

Her phone rang with the ringtone set for her Dad who was in his studio working. She answered putting the phone to her ear, activating the sound only option her Dad preferred as she made it three quarters of the way to the apple tree, “Hey Dad, how’s the latest masterpiece?”

“Terrible, I was just about to clean up and take a lunch break when I saw the strangest thing. There’s a tall red headed stranger in our back yard that looks just like you.” He said with mock astonishment.

“Ha, ha, ha Dad, it’s a good thing you didn’t like acting cause you’d have failed that test. I’m just getting Buster. Finish washing up and I’ll make you a sandwich before Wolf and I hit the CP.” She tossed a wave to the windows of the studio and went to hang up, but not before listening to his muttering in the background about how in his day the darn things were called computers not CP’s. Peyton snorted at that. CP’s far surpassed the computers of just five years ago. The term no longer applied.

Rain interrupted her thoughts as she finally reached Buster by the tree, “Oh crap, Buster it’s time to go inside.” Her hand barely touched him when the rain started pouring out of the sky. Thunder cracked over her head and Buster shot up with a wild yelp of fear unlike any she’d ever heard from him before as he ran back to the house. She didn’t have time to respond as she felt every hair on her body stand on end.

Peyton heard the second crack of thunder above her head so loud her heart stopped beating and her head whipped up of its own accord. Light flashed down from the sky as she looked on, watching the bolt arc towards her as if time had suddenly slowed to a snail’s pace. Purple-blue light flashed before her eyes before searing cold filled her being and the world went dark.